Teach Guz The Robot Reporter and the Paradox

@Teach. Guz The “Robot Reporter” and the Paradox of Emotion in Journalism Andrea L. Guzman, Ph. D “Should Robots be Our Friends? ”, Boston University, April 11, 2019

A Story About Human Emotion

Emotion and Journalism • The objectivity norm (Schudson, 2001) • Journalism as “storytelling” (Roeh, 1989) • The emotional nature of “objective news” (Wahl-Jorgensen, 2013) • Emotions portrayed within the news affect consumer’s perspectives of a news subject (Coleman & Wu, 2010) • Perceived paradox of emotion

Emotion & Machines

Emotion, Humans, & Machines An ontological boundary • “Just as popular imagination envisions, the computer ‘thinks’ by means of dispassionate, logical, calculation” (Bolter, 1984). • “I mean the difference is definitely emotions. You know, being able to feel compassionate for someone else, empathy, all that, sympathy… And that’s what I like with humans overall compared to computers is because they have feelings. ” - Rachel

Emotion, Industrial Robotics, & Automation • Industrial robotics & automated journalism (Guzman, 2016) • Emotion has been integral to industrial robotics (e. g. , Nof, 1985) • Not expression, but suppression (e. g. , Noble, Mumford) “Labor savings historically have been the primary justification for the acquisition of automated equipment. It is believed that machines can replace workers, reducing the labor content and associated cost of manufactured goods. A common fantasy among managers in the U. S. is the paperless, workerless factory that hums unstopped throughout the day and night, churning out products of high quality and low cost, without the problems resulting from the intrusion of people. ” (Majchrzak & Davis, 1990)

Technology is a communicator. “The creation of meaning among humans and machines. ”

HMC in Automated Journalism Research • Machine as communicator: How do people understand a technology – instead of a human – as a message source? • Social configurations: How does technology become part of the social aspects of journalism? • Reconfiguring the Self: How does the sense of Self (Human) and Other (Machine) evolve? Automation, Journalism, and HMC: Rethinking Roles and Relationships of Humans & Machines in News (forthcoming) Digital Journalism, Seth C. Lewis, Andrea L. Guzman, & Thomas Schmidt

Conceptualizing the “robot reporter” • Consumer conceptualization of news-writing programs: • Knowledge/awareness of news-writing programs • Efficacy of news-writing programs • Ethics of news-writing programs • Qualitative interviews: active interviewing (Holstein & Gubrium, 1997) • Analysis: Structural & in-vivo coding, Max. QDA

Emotion, Journalism, & Automation • Automated programs are less biased because they lack emotion. • The ability to feel and understand emotion is a prerequisite to giving a story emotion. • The emotion/emotionless of humans/machines determines who/what is an acceptable author of which stories. • Introducing automated programs is an emotional issue.

“Because the human's more influenced by those emotions … So I think that [program] would be less biased in that regard because that's not an emotional … it would just be ‘this is what's happening. ’” - Leanna

“But I still feel I'm not going to read something from an automated system that's going to give me emotion. I feel that would be real difficult. ” -Dane

“… I think factually, a computer might be better, but thinking, maybe, about the sort of more human aspects like the emotion, then I think that might need to be some input from people there. ” - Monique

“…I don't think I would have any kind of emotional response to it. But, I think that it can be kind of a heated thing. A lot of people are very touchy about technology handling more and more. . . Which I mean, I understand because I would love to have a job, and not have a computer take my job. But, I don't know. I think that's just like a hot topic, people are just sensitive about the idea of technology doing more than they expect it to. ” Hannah, journalism intern

What does this mean?

“Each time in the past when we have been forced to a revaluation of ourselves in the light of new knowledge and new processes, we have emerged with a far more profound realization of the true nature of mankind [humankind]” – Diebold (1966)

Acknowledgments • NIU Research and Artistry Facilitation Grant • Newspaper and Online News Division of the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication Faculty Research Grant

Thank You! Andrea L. Guzman, Ph. D alguzman@niu. edu